railing

1 of 2

noun

rail·​ing ˈrā-liŋ 

1

: a barrier consisting of a rail and supports

2

: rails

also : material for making rails

railing

2 of 2

present participle of rail entry 2, rail entry 4

Synonyms of railing

Noun

• rail

Examples of railing in a Sentence

Noun

He leaned on the deck's railing and watched the sun set.

they had to put a childproof railing on the balcony when the baby started walking

Recent Examples on the Web

Noun

Some of those railings have been removed across various sections of the ground and replaced by additional seats, leading to an increase in capacity of around 500. — Chris Waugh, New York Times, 4 Sep. 2026

Footage published on Citizen showed what appeared to be a body covered by a white cloth lying by the lake near some yellow caution tape strung between a railing and a palm tree. — Fedor Zarkhin, Los Angeles Times, 3 Sep. 2026

This set of minimalistic dusk-to-dawn deck lights is one of the simplest options to add lights around your railings, and more than 11,000 reviewers give them five stars. — Caley Sturgill, Southern Living, 29 Aug. 2026

Now is the time to nail down loose boards, clean debris out of gaps and tighten loose railings. — Alora Bopray, USA Today, 26 Aug. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

Noun

15th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for railing

• ailing
• bailing
• baling
• failing
• flailing
• grayling
• hailing
• jailing
• mailing
• nailing
• paling
• sailing

Kids Definition

railing

noun

rail·​ing ˈrā-liŋ 

1

: a barrier (as a fence) consisting of rails and their supports

2

: material for rails